The United Nations Secretary General Kofi Annan and his senior envoy for the Middle East today strongly deplored Israel’s continuing demolition of Palestinian-owned buildings, especially the destruction of three 13-story buildings in the Gaza Strip over the weekend.

The United Nations information offices have pulled out all stops to reverse a drop in its credibility on Iraq, a situation that developed in the United States because the UN did not support the war, but everywhere else because it failed to prevent the conflict, the world body’s chief of public information said today.

An international monitoring panel charged with keeping an eye on expenditures in Iraq was formally established today with the agreement of all parties on the terms of its operation, according to a joint statement released at the United Nations Headquarters in New York.